NERV: The Transom
by Fanatic-Fanatica
Summary: In an alternate universe, the EVA's are machines of war, built not in humanoid form, but into that of our own armoured vehicles. But can they defeat their biggest enemy: mankind itself?
1. Chapter 1

**Sergeant Bruce Cranmer**

**Head Technical Director, NERV Transom**

Status - **En route to Transom, Location NERV Battle Fleet, Replacing former Technical Director Kazaki Miyo**

Objectives - **Offical: Take over duties as Technical Director, Unofficial:** _Classified_

High above the Atlantic Ocean, soaring through the clouds, something roared.

Emerging from the upper layer of Cumulonimbus, an small transport aircraft, brightly coloured and fast, zoomed towards its destination carrying its semi-precious cargo. The plane was a Bombardier CRT-500-2 executive passenger turboprop. A unique design, it's propeller blades were mounted aft of the Pratt & Whitney turbine engines in a pusher prop configuration. Its orange, black and white paintwork was blemished by just one small spot of red on its vertical tailplane. A number on its canards denoted it as "06".

Bruce Cranmer sat alone inside. The only other people aboard was the flight-crew and a single, seemingly lifeless stewardess. Despite his new navy-blue NERV uniform, not one of them had shown him an ounce of respect. They only wore the standard beige overalls, yet it seemed they were either ignorant to his rank, or being spiteful as they were on punishment duty... or something like that. Cranmer really didn't know how the Fleet did things. Commander Jaeger (sounded German, actually an American bloke) was a mystery to him. All he knew about the man was that he replaced the late Commander Ikari when the latter was killed in a shady incident. Typical, NERV's first command casualty and it's not even time yet.

Other than that glaringly obvious thing, Jaeger was damned lucky to have the top spot in NERV's command structure. It's pride and joy and the reason NERV existed.

_Fifteen Years ago,_ the 'Welcome to NERV!' booklet read, _an event all people on Earth know as Second Impact occurred It destroyed the continent of Antarctica, wiped out approximately half of all human life and close to 75% of all wildlife. Officially, this disaster was caused by a meteorite crashing into the Southern continent at a speed close to the Speed of Light. However, the truth has been kept from the public to protect them._

_We know for a fact that Second Impact was _not_ caused by an errant asteroid. In fact, an expedition to Antarctica discovered a strange being frozen in the ice. Believed dead, the creature was thawed, only for it to regain consciousness. Its subsequent self-destruction brought about Second Impact. This being, code-named The First Angel, is the reason NERV exists. This organisation exists to fight the Angels._

_We know more are coming. The First Angel failed in it's mission to destroy humanity. Since then, another Angel has been unearthed, still dormant and destroyed. A Third is coming. We don't know when. But we know it is for certain._

_We have the mankind's only hope of survival... We have the EVA's._

"Sergeant Cranmer?" The pilot's voice came over the intercom, "We have cleared the final cloud layer. We have arrived."

Bruce looked out of the pusher prop's tiny window. True to the Pilot's word, the plane had descended rapidly and now the ocean's surface was in sight.

_***Battle of Britain OST - Aces High March***_

There it was. The NERV Battle Fleet. A myriad of vessels from all different countries. Made up of Pre- and Post-Impact warships, the Fleet was nonetheless, a formidable sight. Right at the centre of the churning waters, a huge red ship nosed its way through the tumultuous seas. Until a few years ago, this massive vessel had been _Knock Nevis_, the worlds largest supertanker and ship overall. Now having outlived its usefulness as a carrier of crude oil, it had been laid up for scrap as a hulk called _Mont_. It presented a perfect opportunity for a Command and Control Vessel. They made it the fifth Anti-Angel Unit and named it _Ramiel_. It's official designation was The Transom. To many outside NERV, it was NERV Central outside NERV Central. All the functionality of the Tokyo-3 branch, just compacted.

So it was sold to NERV. Who hollowed it out, stripped it and refitted it. Now it was barely recognisable. Its once bare decks were filled up with six massive ovoid objects. Yellow light pulsed inside and immediately Cranmer knew what these were: N2 Reactors. Nuclear capability for the price of zero radiation poisoning.

To either side, brightly coloured destroyers sailed. The lack of exhaust from their smokestacks signified they were unpowered. Closer inspection showed the links to the Transom holding them in check. There were four, one blue, one silver, one black and the last painted a garish purple. In the distance, a black and green aircraft carrier chugged. Alongside, a Russian submarine kept watch, the Roman Numeral VI upon its conning tower.

"Tower Approach, this is Transport 06, requesting permission to boom-and-zoom cargo on the Transom." For some reason, the pilot had allowed radio traffic to be heard in the cabin.

"Roger 06. Tower confirms. Approach Vector 920 on 34. Transom recognises." A nasal sounding woman replied cryptically.

"Affirmative. Landing approach on Transom confirmed." Landing on the Transom? If he wasn't mistaken, Bruce was pretty sure he had not seen a single flat surface on the former supertanker. Unless of course, you counted the walls of the superstructure. In a panic, he unclipped his seatbelt and ran up to the flight-deck door.

_*BANG BANG BANG!*_

"Wait, we can't land on that thing!" he protested, "It has no flight deck. We''ll just crash and become another set of obituaries!"

"Sergeant Cranmer!" The pilot shouted in return, "Everything is under control! Please return to your seat." A hand grabbed the crook of his arm. Surprised, he turned to find the 'sleepy' stewardess smiling coyly at him. 'That' smile that Pan-Am had perfected.

Seconds later, he was back in the seat, belt engaged. His breathing pattern grew irregular as the plane descended, flaps and landing gear whining as they were lowered.

"Hello and welcome to the last stage of your flight!" Cranmer jumped as a TV screen suddenly switched on in front of him and a woman began talking with a voice long since recognised as a cliché, "You may have concerns about landing on the Transom Unit. Please refer to this simple animation and watch all your apprehensions wash away!" The 'simple' animation replaced the far-too-happy-for-her-job girl and instantly showed how the pusher-prop would be landing. As advertised, Cranmers allusions to the plane crashing were misguided.

"Oh yes," he mused, "I forgot."

The Transom clunked. Not just a simple _*clunk*_ but more like a _*CHHHHHHHHHHH-CHUNK!*_ Heavy gantries lowered from the ships deck and attached themselves to the side below the waterline. With another ear-splitting report, they began lifting massive armour plates from the sea at a speed Usain Bolt would be jealous of. Slapping into place on top of the N2 Reactors, they continued until there was a flat surface running the entire length of the ship from the superstructure forward. With a glare of light, the plates were sealed and the Transom's flight-deck was operational.

The CRT-500 descended further. It passed over the Transom's funnel's before touching down, tires squealing. The ship was long enough for there to be no need for an arrestor hook and the plane came to a stop with brakes only.

_***End Music***_

"Transom, this is 06. Cargo has arrived. The new Tech-Dec is here." The pilot announced proudly. Cranmer looked over at the closed flight-deck door with an odd look.

"Tech-Dec?!"

**999999**

The flight deck was, unsurprisingly empty. It was lonely, there just being four people and a small passenger plane being on top. He had orders to wait for the Commander, from a Captain Katsuragi. One thing he had noticed, there were a lot of Japanese names in the organisation. Had it really taken this long to notice that?

_*Swoosh!*_ An unexpected box appeared in the middle of the deck. Then it opened up, revealing three people inside it. Cranmer still had no idea whatsoever how the shipbuilders got this elevator to function. He had never seen any specs on the cross-section for the wells it worked inside.

The lift's occupiers exited the cramped box, leaving it to close and retract back into it's recess. A wiry, grey-haired man, wearing an important looking uniform stepped forward. The epaulettes on his shoulders gave away his rank: Vice-Commander. Kozo Fuyutsuki, former college lecturer turned military leader. He had been slated to replace Ikari when he was killed, but for reasons that most did not know, that didn't happen. Seeing him here was enough to make Cranmer snap to attention.

"Sergeant Cranmer, Welcome aboard _Ramiel_," Fuyutsuki announced with a flat, accented tone, "I am Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki."

A tall woman, with shocking purple hair and red uniform jacket to boot, saluted, before she stepped up to Bruce with a genuine smile on her face,

"Captain Misato Katsuragi at your service! Or rather," The smile faded, "You're at my service, so start polishing my boots!" she ordered.  
Cranmers eyes widened in surprise, "Pardon me, ma'am?!"

"I'm just kidding! Learn to take a joke." Katsuragi harrumphed.

"Sorry, ma'am, the military training seems to have dulled down my sense of humour. Perhaps I should polish that as well?"

"Enough," said the third person forcefully, "No time for these silly games." Misato looked at the man, the phrase 'you're no fun' singing out of every pore.

"For the Captain of the largest vessel on Earth, you don't take things seriously enough, Katsuragi." Fuyutsuki criticized.

"_Anyway_. Pleasure to meet you Sergeant Cranmer. I am Commander Marcus Jaeger," the second man introduced himself, "Forgive Misato-san, she's a good soldier, but lets herself get carried away whenever she's off-duty. Hell, she gets carried away when she's _on-duty_ sometimes! Please, at-ease. I'm sure you'll want the grand tour and to see your station."

"Yes Sir. I don't like waiting to get started."

"Then if you'll follow us into the elevator," Katsuragi ushered, "The tour will begin!"

_***Evangelion- 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone OST - Première Manœuvre***_

The elevator car emerged from the abyss in the ceiling. Sailing down towards the floor, it slowed and came to a stop, before sliding along a set of suspended rails. The doors opened.

When they did, Cranmer's jaw dropped in awe.

"Sergeant, allow me to introduce you to our main hanger bay."

The bay was simply _huge_. It seemed to give a bigger on the inside effect given the sheer volume of equipment inside. Tanks, planes, armoured cars, helicopters and even a torpedo boat was in there.

"Is that," he began, "A B-52 Stratofortress?" Sure enough, one of America's eight engined behemoths, garish orange in colour, sat on a platform, technicians working inside its bomb-bay.

"Yes," Misato answered, "That's _Sahaquiel_, the Tenth in it's line. Over there you can see the Third, Seventh and Sixteenth." Cranmer looked over in the direction the Captain was pointing. Two black Russian helicopters and a pure white Harrier jump-jet were parked in bays, engine inlets covered with brightly marked covers.

"The ANGEL Units?" he questioned, "I thought they became obselete when the EVA's went online."

"Given the power of The First Angel, we need every war machine we can get our hands on," Fuyutsuki responded, "With the UN slowly whittling down our budget, we couldn't afford to scrap them."

The elevator slowly passed by a bright red Leopard battle tank. It's turret side was emblazoned with two numbers: _02._

"Which ANGEL is that?"

"That's no ANGEL," Jaeger put in, "That's one of the EVA's. Specifically Ground Unit 02 of Battle Group 02, specialized for Ground Combat."

"If that belongs to Group 02... where is the rest of them?"

"Group 02 is currently out on exercise in the North Sea. They will be returning in a few short weeks." Katsuragi answered. There was a little gleam in hers eyes, almost as if she didn't know whether to be grateful or scared that they were coming back.

The elevator car was nearing the end of its sightseeing trip. Bruce caught just one last glimpse of a blue tank with a girl dressed in white sitting atop it.

_*__**End Music**__*_

She was odd. Her hair was blue.

The car settled into place on the far end of the hanger wall. The doors opened with a _swoosh_.

"Oh Ritsuko!" Misato meeped nervously.

On cue, a lab-coat-wearing Japanese woman with dyed blonde hair stepped into the elevator, face-to-face with Captain Katsuragi. She was wearing one of those smiles that happens if you happen to be annoyed at someone.

"Captain Katsuragi," Ritsuko announced, "You missed your Physical. Another fifteen minutes and we were going to send a search party. You're lucky I came to find you myself."

"Hmm, Sorry!" Misato said in a girly tone, raising a hand in front of her face. The other woman sighed deeply.

"So this is the new Tech-Dec, huh?" she asked.

"Yep! Sergeant Bruce Cranmer is his name." Bruce looked up from his Welcome to Nerv! booklet at this.

"Sorry, what?"

"You're the new Tech-Dec. You'd better start getting used to the nickname, because it's not going away." Misato said helpfully.

"Why Tech-Dec?"

Jaeger spoke up, "Because a few years ago, our then Technical Director reported to duty drunk out of his skull, then went around boasting he was the Technical Decorator. Tech-Dec for short."

Jaeger and the two women would've laughed their butts off at the memory of a man walking around shouting he was a decorator of technical stuff. Would've if Fuyutsuki hadn't stepped in with a casual comment,

"The next stop is mine. I have important duties to attend to. I shall see you 'around' Mr Cranmer." He said it all quickly and flatly. It was quite the mood-killer. Working as intended, some might say.

"I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi by the way. Pleased to meet you." she stretched out a hand. Bruce willingly took it.

"SO Cranmer," Jaeger said suddenly, "Since you are going to be the one keeping the EVA's up to spec, I suppose you'll need to meet the Commanders and the pilots."

"Uhhh, yes I suppose so."

"Good, I like an enthusiastic man!" All he got were strange looks as he strolled over to a wall-mounted comm-panel. Add a few sparkly lights and make his uniform bright yellow and hey presto, you were illegally recreating _Star Trek_.

"This is Jaeger." Jaeger's voice said over the internal PDA, "Requesting all available Evangelion pilots and Commanders to report to Transom Briefing room in 15 minutes."

***Transom Briefing Room, 15 minutes later***

28. That was the number of people on that room, excluding Jaeger, Katsuragi, Akagi and Cranmer.

Cranmer whistled,

"That's a lot of pilots."

Jaeger nudged him,  
"This isn't all of them, mind you. Six of them are with Group 02 and two are still with Sea Unit 05."  
"Why haven't they come aboard then?"

"Just wait and see."  
So Bruce waited and saw.

Two women simply materialised in the middle of the room. Bruce jumped back in surprise.

"Fuck me! Is that hologram technology?"  
"Only the best!" one of the holo women smiled.

"Pilots! Stand to ATTeeen-SHUN!" Boots clapped together when Jaeger gave the command. All but six of the mass of people were instantly at attention.

"Commanders! Take position, Forward!"

The six stepped forward. Cranmer was wide-eyed as he recognised one of them.

"Commanders, Reeeee-PORT!" The six snapped to attention, saluted and began introducing themselves.

"Rei Ayanami, Commander, Group 00!" the blue-haired girl said quietly, but forcefully

"Shinji Ikari, Commander, Group 01!" a wiry young man said dutifully.

"Toji Suzuhara, Commander, Group 03!" an athletic man shouted with a little too much volume.

"Kensuke Aida, Commander, Group 04!" a guy with glasses shouted in military form.

"Hikari Horaki, Vice-Commander, Group 05!" a freckled young lady announced with a tone that suggested prior experience.

"Mari Illustrious Makinami, Commander, Group 05!" The final woman, the holo-woman from before, said in a way that seemed to denote she enjoyed her job a little too much.

"Everyone, At EASE!"

"Psst!" a whisper in his ear caught Bruce's attention, "There is one final Commander. You should be glad she's not here yet, because once she learns you're the new Tech-Dec, she'll be convinced you're fixing her EVA's the wrong way. In a word, she'll make it her mission to make your life hell."

"Why?" Bruce whispered back.

"How the hell should I know? It's just the way she is."

_The end of a short first chapter (well, at least it felt short)._

**Don't worry. This fic will not be focused purely on Mr Cranmer and Mr Jaeger. I am simply introducing two OC's that play a major part.**

_Omake_

_The AUTHOR (Fanatica) is seen standing in a room, surrounded by Evangelion characters._

_He speaks to them,_

**AUTHOR**

Erm, why are you looking at me that way?

**MISATO **(Looking angry)

You write the first chapter of a new story and you don't focus it on the pilots?

**AUTHOR**

So?

**SHINJI**

The point of virtually every EVA fanfic out there is to talk about how I get mindfucked, how I fall in love with Asuka and how we all live after Third Impact.

**AUTHOR**

_Some_ of them. Not 'virtually all'. Just a few. I mean there is at least seven and a half thousand EVA fic out there, isn't that enough?

**REI**

No.

**GENDO**

I mean, what's with the EVA's being damn war machines? How is my Yui supposed to survive in a battle tank? And why am I dead?! Everyone knows how totally evil I am!

**OFFSTAGE VOICE**

Speaking of war machines...

_MIHO NISHIZUMI and her crew from GIRLS UND PANZER crash through the walls in a tank._

**MIHO**

You promised you would get the next chapter of our fanfic up next! But instead you've put up this and given another chapter to that ridiculous Asuka thing!

**YUKARI AKIYAMA**

How can you leave your GuP fans with just seven chapters?!

**AUTHOR**

Actually, I believe it's eight-

**SAORI TAKEBE**

Doesn't matter! The fact is it's still not finished! I could never love a man so ignorant to his people's needs!

_Several more characters from unfinished fics walk in. These include HAN SOLO, ELIZABETH LOCHLEY, the OC ALEXANDER ROGERS, KYLE BLUEMAN, HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III and HEATHER BROWN/SPINNERETTE._

**HAN**

You say you're a good man, yet you never finished have the stuff you started!

**ALEX**

Hear hear! You've put me in _two_ fics and neither are anywhere _close_ to being finished!

**KYLE**

I thought you loved CHERUB, mate. Why haven't the grace to say you're not bothered with it any-more?

**HEATHER**

I thought you loved my web-comic Fanatica! It was my belief you wanted to continue that crossover fic I star in.

**HICCUP**

I'm not even gonna say anything meaningful, because you _know_ you have done wrong!

**AUTHOR**

Shut up already! I go through stages alright! I like thing, then I like another, then another, so on, so on. Perhaps I'm too damn lazy, perhaps I can't bothered or perhaps I don't bloody know how to put things into writing! I get good ideas, then I conveniently forget them!

_A wild FANATIC and HOSHI SATO appear._

**FANATIC**

Whereas I don't!

**HOSHI**

Anyway, you're all wrong. He has finished something. I'm proof of that.

**ALL THE CAHARCTERS**

SHUT UP! Fanatica wasn't the one who wrote that stupid Star Trek Enterprise fic!

**ASUKA**

Besides, that was only one chapter, so it was _easy_ to finish.

**HOSHI**

Well, what about that Homeworld one?

**MARI**

Pfft, only finished because he couldn't be bothered to write anything more for it.

_HELEN PARR and VIOLET PARR walk in hand-in-hand._

**HELEN**

Perhaps you should let Fanatic take over the channel once more and let him spread glorious futanari filled content across the interweb!

_Everyone (except FANATIC) looks at HELEN and VIOLET in horror as they kiss._

**AUTHOR**

Look guys, would you rather Fanatic takes over and spams futa, or I do all the writing and do not a lot of sensible stuff?

**FANATIC**

Hey, what's wrong with my stuff?

_CHLOE ARMSTRONG from SGU comes along, looking how she did before FANATICA thankfully got rid of the disgusting part of Chapter 2._

**GENDO**

My god! My EYES!

_GENDO IKARI runs off stage holding his popped-out eyeballs in his hands._

_ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU screams._

**ASUKA**

Oh my god! No. NO! NOOOOOOOOO!

_ASUKA runs into the AUTHOR's arms and crumples._

**ASUKA**

Please! Come back! Give me as many arms and tits as you want, just don't turn me into THAT!

_The AUTHOR strokes ASUKA's head._

**AUTHOR**

Don't worry. I won't do anything like that.

**ELIZABETH**

Well it looks like he's won favour in the court.

**THE BEAST**

FeeeEeeeeEedddD SOooooOOooOoonNn

_The AUTHOR looks at THE BEAST forlornly._

**AUTHOR**

I think it's about time this omake ended before it really loses cohesion and makes no sense whatsoever.

**THE BEAST**

NnnnnnnnooooOOoOoOoOoOooooooooOoOoooOooooOOoOooOOo OooOooOOoooooooooooooooooooooooOOoOOoOOoOo-

_**THE END OF ALL TIME AND EVERYTHINGNESS**_

**READER**

Fuuuck, finally it's over, I'm never going to read this guy again.

_The READER looks at themself, then at the omake._

**READER**

Aww, come on!

THE END

No really

_The End_

_**COMING SOON ON FANATICA'S STORY LIST**_

**OBLIVION PROJECT**

**BATTLESTAR GALACTICA x HOMEWORLD**

**GIRLS UND PANZER: SISTERLY BONDS CHAPTER 8... OR 9... OR 7... OR 31... OK it's number 5**

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: THE DEFILEMENT OF ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU CHAPTER 5**;** MIND BREAK CHAPTER 3;** **THE TRANSOM CHAPTER 2**

**FANATICA'S FIRST FIC - BABYLON 5: OMEGA**

**AND ROUND OF APPLAUSE) HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: LONE WARRIOR CHAPTER SOMETHINGORATHER (number8)**

**And something with TANKS!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Guess What's Coming to Dinner?**

"I see Tech-Dec Cranmer has settled in to his regime." Group Commander S. Ikari announced absently.

"Yeah. He's doing a good job with those knuckledraggers in the hanger," Suzuhara responded in appreciation, "Would you believe he's moved the deployment date of Group 03 up by two weeks because of the work he's done?"

"It's incredible!" Hikari near squealed in delight, "He's been here less than a week and already, by his hand alone, he has fixed the inherent problems in Aerial Unit 05's dual pilot matrix!"

"Director Cranmer's ability to complete tasks ahead of schedule is impressive," Rei, the silent one, spoke up. Although she rarely spoke, she would input on subjects she believed were worth talking about. The new Tech-Dec seemed a good thing to talk about.

"I read his file," Aida said, "His family has a military background!" This was met with several groans.

"Here he goes again."

"Oh gawd."

"Please don't Kensuke."

"Almost everyone's familiy has some sort of military background Ken, don't go into-"

"Did you know his grandfather drove Churchill tanks in World War Two?" Kensuke announced, utterly oblivious to his peers moaning, "That his great-grandfather flew in the Royal Flying Corps? That his great-great-grandfather served on _HMS Warrior_, the world's first ironclad warship? And that his son is currently flying Euro Air Force Typhoon's in Somalia? And that-"

"KENSUKE SHUT UP!" All the other commanders (except Rei) screamed simultaneously. Kensuke normally wasn't afraid. But Hikari was here in the Transom's mess hall for once. Her glare always shut him up. Then there was Mari who liked to whisper quiet threats in his ear.

"_Anyway_, this new Tech-Dec..." Mari continued from the last logical point of reference, "I saw him ogling ANGEL Sixteen in the hanger. Seemed impressed by Fourteen as well."

Shinji scoffed,

"If he likes that, he should see our other battleship."

"Is he even entitled to know about that?" Hikari asked, confused.

"The last guy knew about it. I know Kitakami is directly involved with it, and she's lower rank than him."

Now it was Toji's turn to be confused,

"Kitakami's a Lieutenant right? Isn't Cranmer a Sergeant?"

"Was. He's effectively XO of this ship now."

"What's his rank then?"

Shinji shrugged now,

"Pfft, Commander?" In honest bewilderment.

Toji shook his head and sighed,

"Typical. Anyone can be a Commander these days."

9999

_**Former Antarctic**_

Before Second Impact, the Dead Sea in the Middle East was one of the least hospitable stretches of water in the world. Filled with so much sediment, that it couldn't support life.

Know though, the dark red Antarctic wastes were the deadest waters on Earth. Not even microbial life existed there.

Until recently.

It had only been birthed half a day ago. But it was already a hulking, lanky monstrosity. It senses, now honed, pointed the direction of the all-father. Gracefully, it dived off the iceberg it stood on and began to swim up towards South America.

It had assured itself that humanity would be erased by the time this day was out.

Fifteen years had passed. Now it was time to start where The First Angel had left off.

9999

The Bridge of the Transom was a fairly large room. Back in the vessels days as _Jahre Viking_, the bridge was a spacious affair. Since conversion to the Transom, the bridge had become even larger. Of course, all this space was now filled with banks of computers connecting to the ships own MAGI, the MAGI-7 system. As the Transom could technically be referred to as the Seventh Branch, it was required to have a set of MAGI. Like all MAGI, the triplets had names. Whereas NERV-Central named theirs after the three wise men and the Third Branch named theirs after composers (the Americans pompously named their two systems after presidents), the MAGI-7 were named after the Japanese Home Islands, Honshu, Hokkaido and Kyushu, in homage to the Japanese roots of the organisation.

Jaeger really didn't mind all this. He didn't mind that nearly three fifths of his crew were from the nation of the Rising Sun. In fact he quite enjoyed their company.

Except for Fuyutsuki's of course.

Marcus swore the guy had sat on a stick as a kid or something. Though that technically wasn't right. It was only until a few years ago that the man had been quite a talkative chappy, still very much a lecturer. By all rights, he should have had command of NERV from the beginning. Yet the younger Gendo Ikari got the seat instead. And Fuyutsuki was all too willing to take second place, becoming the man's lapdog.

Now Jaeger was in charge. Yet despite all his attempts to make Fuyutsuki open up a bit and become more approachable, the old man still had the metaphorical telegraph pole stuck up his ass.

It really didn't help that Kozo was stuck to the Ikari ways, always standing over Jaeger's shoulder.

Turning his attention away from Fuyutsuki, Jaeger focused on his younger, happier bridge-crew.

Captain Misato Katsuragi. Excitable, a bit silly, but when she was on task, she was deadly effective.

Lt. Shigeru Aoba. Wannabe rock star (Jaeger was pretty sure playing air guitar was not the way forward). Not with it when it came to combat, but his voice was loud. That was enough.

Technician Makoto Hyuga. The sciency one. He'd been involved from the discovery of The Second Angel. He was the one who had identified the differences in EM wavelength patterns.

Lt. Cmdr. Maya Ibuki. Shy and quiet. Former apprentice to Doctor Akagi. Despite being a permanent bridge member now, she still spent a lot of time with the blonde woman. Seems like their relationship went from student-mentor to friends.

There were still numerous other Techs and officers whom Jaeger had yet to speak to. He had always made it a point to get to know his entire bridge crew whenever, wherever.

"Commander Sir," Hyuga spoke up, "Incoming message for you from the Head of the UN Security Council. He's given the go-ahead, Sir."

"Thank you Mr. Hyuga. Ms. Ibuki, please find our newest addition to the crew and give the news."

9999

_**Buenos Aires-2, Argentina**_

Pedro Arminez was having a good day.d He was practically skipping along the street as he headed towards his good friend's fruit stall.

"Pedro!" Juan called out jovially, "How many caffeine pills did you have today?" Pedro frowned at the marketeer, causing the old man to laugh deeply, "Okay, seriously, why are you so happy?"

"I believe God has decided to shine his divine light on me this day. The boss _finally_ gave me the raise I want and more, " Juan nodded enthusiastically, "I got the Mustang to work again, "Juan released a cheer and laughed when Pedro slapped him, "And Katrina..."

The old man's eyes widened in surprise,

"You popped the question?" He grinned ear-to-ear when Pedro nodded, unable to contain his glee, "Jesus, congratulations man! Allow me to be the first to wish you a happy engagement. But you know what will happen in the future. God starts shining his light on someone else. So you'll lose your job, the car will crash and Katrina turns out to be a real female dog, if ya know what I mean."

Pedro's face fell,

"Thank you for killing the mood, Juan." Juan only chuckled at his friends discomfort. He opened his mouth to speak another light-hearted insult.

A distant explosion cut him off. His words went forever unspoken.

"Christ, what the hell was that?"

Angel Attack - NGE OST

Pucara attack aircraft roared overhead. Mirage fighter's soared if front. More explosions, cannon fire and rockets swooping through the skies. Under all this noise, the ground trembled in time... _boom... boom... boom... boom_.

The two men watched in awe as a great black figure strode over the horizon. Another wave of Pucara's flew over, unleashing a fresh barrage of rocket and machine-gun fire. A Super-Etendard flew in from another direction and dropped a cluster of bombs. The resulting fireball could have wiped out a small town. But when the smoke cleared, the black figure just stood there, blinking its eyes in what seemed like bewilderment. Tires screeched as cars swerved away from a new noise.

TAM tanks clattered onto the street, right in front of the stupefied men. Their cannons thundered as 105mm Sabot rounds were flung at the great humanoid. All this weaponry. This great barrage by the Argentine Air Force and Army. They hadn't so much as made a dent in it, whatever the hell it was.

Then it's eyes flashed. The TAM's were obliterated in a colossal explosion. So was much of the street. All that remained of Pedro and Juan were ashes.

888

Katrina watched the carnage from a skyscraper on the other side of the city. She couldn't believe her eyes as the creature carried on its way, having shrugged off one of South America's more powerful military forces. She only hoped her fiancée was alright.

999

Doctor Akagi continued to lecture on about the workings of the EVA's and their similarities to the MAGI supercomputers. Whilst this was all interesting stuff, there was only so much Bruce could take of the blonde's incessant rambling.

"Sooooo," he said at the first possible moment, "Essentially, the MAGI are machines with some biological components and like them, the EVA's use a similar technique to allow pilots to synch with them."

Akagi immediately detected that she had kept him long enough,

"Yes. Each EVA has their own bio-computer that is connected to the central supercomputer, mounted on the Sea Unit of each Group. So Evangelion Helicopter Unit 01 is directly connected to Sea Unit 01."

"What happens if the Sea Unit is damaged or destroyed?"

"Then all EVA's in the group cease functioning," she sighed, "Well, that's all I have for now. You may leave."

"Thank god. Any-more of that and I would have slipped into a coma." Bruce muttered discreetly as he trudged out of the room.

"I heard that!" she called after him.

8888

Cranmer was intercepted in the corridor, heading towards the hanger.

"Hey Tech-Dec! Director Cranmer!" he turned, seeing one of the bridge officers rushing his way. He repressed a grin as he remembered the term for the bridge techs here. Whoever thought of 'Bridge Bunnies' was quite the joker.

"Lieutenant Commander Ibuki. What can I do for you?" He pronounced it 'Leftenant'.

She stopped, catching her breath before speaking.

"Nothing Sir. It's more of a what I can do for you." Bruce raised an eyebrow, "The Commander's received permission from the UN Security Council to show you one of NERV's more secret projects. Since the last Tech-Dec was rather intimate with the project, it seemed only logical you step into his wellingtons."

"Shoes."

"Sir?"

"Shoes, Lieutenant. The term is 'step into his shoes'."

Ibuki shrugged,

"Wellingtons, shoes, same difference. You wear both on your feet don't you?"

Bruce could feel a nerve in his temple throbbing.

"Anyway, please follow me. The jet leaves in fifteen minutes."

"Jet?"

"I'll explain later, Sir."

888

Once again, Bruce was intercepted. Not by a person though, or anything physical for that matter.

The corridor began flashing red as hidden beacons extended. An alarm, deep and grating echoed through the narrow halls. **(Battlestar Pegasus Alarm)**

"Alert Condition One," the voice of Shigeru Aoba rang out over the PDA, "All Senior Officers and EVA Group Commander's report to the Bridge. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Bruce looked down at the young woman escorting him,

"I guess this secret project is going to have to wait, Miss Ibuki."

8888

With all the essential personnel accounted for, everyone had moved to the briefing room. The Group Commander's sat at the very front, with various personnel sitting in the tiers behind them. Cranmer sat next to Ibuki, more out of convenience than anything else, right behind the eccentric Makinami and in front of Captain Katsuragi.

"What you are about to see is Top Secret footage straight from the Columbian Military," Jaeger flicked on a projector. An image flickered onto a canvas screen and as advertised, showed footage with Columbian watermarks.

Columbian Air Force jets and UN Air Force detachments of attack VTOL's strafed an unknown enemy. Artillery brigades and tank battalions fired their guns and rockets into an ever growing cloud of smoke. Then, without warning, a violet beam of light struck out and slashed the wing off of a VTOL. From the cloud, a gigantic creature, dark green in colour stepped out, completely unscathed. It turned its bird like face towards the tanks, then its eyes flashed, momentarily replacing the feed with static. When ordinary video returned, there was nothing left but charred husks. The feed cut out as a another lance of energy sprang forth, coming from the arm of the monstrosity, right at the camera.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I will give no prizes for guessing what that thing is. We knew this day coming. The Third Angel has arrived."

Silence. So complete, you could hear a pin drop.

"It was first spotted off the coast of Argentina about three hours ago. It walked through that country, devastated Buenos Aires-2 and then went off the radar as it progressed through the Amazon Rainforest. It was only found again when it was spotted on the Columbian border. It has only attacked when provoked. For reasons unknown, it has completely bypassed almost all major population centres. It seems to have one destination in mind.

"Where that is, I couldn't tell you. But an absolute metric butt-ton of people believed it would head for Tokyo-3. And so far, it's current trajectory, although somewhat erratic, does seem to show it is heading in that general direction.

"It was only after the UN had fired enough missiles to level an entire province that they called us in. We are hard pressed now to intercept the Angel as it swims across the Pacific to its target.

"As a result, I have ordered ANGEL Units _Gaghiel_ and _Sandalphon_ to stall the Angel before it reaches the south coast of Japan. This will allow us to get our only operational EVA Group out there to destroy the threat."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Cranmer interrupted, "You only have _one_ operational EVA Group?!"

"Yes," Misato said flatly, "Group 01 is the only Group we have right now. Group 00 is in lock-down, Group 02 isn't here and Groups 03 and 04 aren't ready yet."

All eyes fell on Shinji Ikari, fated Commander of the Group. He smiled wanly.

"I'll do my best, Commander."

Jaeger stared at him sternly, but there was no mistaking the concern in his eyes,

"I should hope so Ikari. Since this is a water-borne interception, you can only take the Heli Unit with you."

"I understand."

"We will be watching you Ikari. Do us proud. Godspeed."

All the while, Cranmer watched, completely disbelieving what he had been told.

Then again, it was only a ruse. He already knew.

8888

_**Oscar Class Submarine, Gaghiel**_

The two nuclear submarines, despatched hours earlier had raced through the Panama Canal. Raced as in 'waited ages for a massive bulk carrier to dawdle out the end they needed to enter'.

The funny markings of the beige Oscar and it's dark grey Los Angeles SSN companion had drawn a few odd looks from civilians and officials alike. It had taken a very precise explanation to the Canal officials as to why they needed to be on the other side of the canal as of five minutes ago.

Now, Captain Erik Agnarsson, Icelandic and full of brawn, was pacing the command centre of his sub. Despite the obvious display of 'fed-up of waiting', he was actually a very patient man. He had last requested a status report the instant _Sandalphon_ had left the Canal. That was over two hours ago.

Now was the time for another one.

"Status Report Gentlemen."

"We are approaching the enemy Sir. Two klicks away, bearing 256 degrees, depth 40 feet. Speed 12 knots."

"How interesting," Erik spoke idly, "He's slowed down." He reached for a wireless device connected to the console, activating it as he picked it up,

"All Hands: General Quarters! Condition One. I say again, General Quarters Condition One, Battle-stations!"

"Weapons Officer, order torpedo tubes loaded and armed. Have short-ranged Sawfly's in the missile bays. Comms, let _Sandalphon_ know we are engaging." A series of 'roger that's followed his orders. All the while, the Icelander was cursing the limitations of his weapons.

Everything short of a tactical N2 mine had been used against the monster. Tomahawk cruise-missiles launched from US Navy _Burke_ class destroyers had had as much effect as shooting a nail gun at inch-thick steel plate. It seemed that shortly, the UN forces would have had to lay down their depleted weapons and charge it with swords and cavalry.

The Oscar class sub _Gaghiel_ was based on had been designed to engage targets from hundreds of miles away. A standard Oscar could happily fire upon the Angel from across Panama's widest point. But something of a problem had arisen with the ANGEL Unit's and the Evangelion's. Stand-off range weaponry and beyond had suddenly become incompatible with them. Even medium range missiles and torpedoes refused to function.

But, as luck would have it, short-to-medium range artillery was working _perfectly_. Which basically meant the engagement range was _right down their throats_.

It didn't stop many of NERV's fleet carrying stockpiles of the longer range stuff, for all the useless good it did..

But right now, the shorter stuff was needed. _Gaghiel_ and _Sandalphon_ were literally too close to use the normal stuff anyway. The most powerful weapon in their arsenal was the short-range Sawfly's on the Russian sub.

"Target has stopped, Sir. Surfacing rapidly." Erik pulled down the periscope in response, looking into the lenses at his prey. He wanted to get a good look at it before he killed it.

He saw the form of The Third Angel in all its lanky glory. It had frozen the seawater beneath it in order to stand up. Erik slammed the periscope back into position in frustration. Now his primary weapons were useless.

"Are those Sawfly's ready?"

"Yessir!"

"_Sandalphon_ is launching Harpoon's, Captain."

"Launch those Sawfly's NOW!"

The ocean bubbled and frothed as if in agony. Great columns of water burst upwards as American Harpoon's and Russian SS-N-6 Sawfly's powered their way out of the depths. Thrusters shifted their course and the great projectiles swung towards the Angel. The creature just stood there, expecting its AT Field to protect it.

The nose cones of the missiles burst apart. Great shafts of metal shot forward, growing strange spear-like heads. Crystals inside the metallic structure quickly grew into large green gems, replacing the centre of each spear-head.

The Angel's AT Field flickered momentarily as the weapons made contact, momentarily stopped by the incredibly strong force behind the Field. Then they broke through, burying themselves in the Angel's flesh.

Moments later, the missile warheads exploded, shredding the Angel and causing a great cloud of smoke to fall upon the general area. Cheers erupted on the command deck. The enemy was defeated.

"What are you cheering for?!" Erik screamed, silencing the crew, "This isn't over yet."

The smoke cleared. Astonishingly, The Angel was still there. It's skin was pockmarked, bleeding blue blood. But it was still there.

"Reload the missile bays! I don't care what you put inside them, just make sure it will kill it!"

The Angel growled angrily. It eyes flashed and brought forth an enormous mass of water. At the top of this pillar of fluid, one of the two submarines floundered, it's propeller spinning uselessly and rudder's flapping wildly in a futile effort to control its inevitable descent. Then the great vessel came crashing down on the small ice-shelf the Creature had formed. It crumpled like a tin can.

"Sir, _Sandalphon_ has gone off SONAR."

Erik had the periscope down in a flash. He looked on in muted horror as the Los Angeles class sub leaked from its ballast tanks, wisps of smoke curling from the shattered hull.

"Receiving broadcast from Captain Snelling, Sir."

"Put it on the speakers!" Erik shouted.

What was said, made his heart go cold.

They were going to blow their nuclear reactor.

"CRASH DIVE! EMERGENCY DEPTH NOW!"


End file.
